Monster of the Day #28

Given the paltry amount of screentime he receives, this chap is probably up there with the most memorable monsters ever. I found better pictures of him (you can’t see his cool crab claws here), but they were in black and white, and he really needs to be seen in color.

I like to picture his giant brain exploding out of his skull like the Incredible Hulk busting through a dress shirt.

John Nowak

>What exactly are the advantages of not having your brain encased by a skull?

Cooling?

Meh. I got nothing. But I’ve got to say that it’s a weird critter to have an enormous exposed brain. These things couldn’t even talk.

John Nowak

>Tne Major Matt Mason man from Uranus action figure was a total ripoff of this.

And I’ll just bet the guy from Pluto is really pissed off at astronomers.

BeckoningChasm

Ericb, re: Matt Mason figurines–whoa. They didn’t even make the attempt to disguise it.

I actually have the Jupiter guy somewhere in storage. I still have his mace, too.

BeckoningChasm

Hang on a sec, did they totally revamp the Matt Mason characters? Cos I had a lot of those as a kid, and I remember that the Martian guy looked totally human, except he was (scale-wise) about ten feet tall.

And I still remember the voice-over for the character from Jupiter: “And this is Callisto, from Jupiter. His transparent skull reveals the workings of his alien brain.”

I like to use that second sentence in conversation whenever I can.

Gamera

Speaking of brains my favorite part of the movie is even though the guys from Metaluna (Metalunans?) have gigantic foreheads I don’t remember any of the Earthers noticing. Whenever Spock was on 20th century Earth they’d at least have him disguise himself with a hat.

Rock Baker

I think I enjoy reading the quotes just as much as seeing the new pictures each day (when a quote gets included, anyway). Sadly, the line I always think of from This Island Earth is Rex Reason yelling “Run, Ruth! Run!” Not much of a quote is it?

Flick had some fantastic Technicolor use.

fish eye no miko

Gamera said: “Speaking of brains my favorite part of the movie is even though the guys from Metaluna (Metalunans?) have gigantic foreheads I don’t remember any of the Earthers noticing.”

Actually, Ruth does point it out to Cal and The Professor.

BeckoningChasm

For quotes, Bill Warren has a nice bit (in Keep Watching the Skies) from the end of the picture:

Ruth: Where are you going?

Exeter: Our universe is vast – full of wonders. I shall explore, perhaps find another Metaluna, a place inhabited by beings not unlike myself. You see, I’m more adventurous than you imagined me.

Cal: Exeter – you’re a liar. You’ve run our of power bringing us here. Even if you had a place to go, you couldn’t make it.

Ruth: Come back with us. We’ll heal your wounds.

Exeter: I’m afraid my wounds can never be healed.

silverwheel

Cal is perhaps the quintessential Designated Hero.

John Nowak

>Speaking of brains my favorite part of the movie is even though the guys from Metaluna (Metalunans?) have gigantic foreheads I don’t remember any of the Earthers noticing.

The Metalunans don’t look like aliens. They look like humans with a mild facial deformity. I’d guess acromegaly.

To be blunt, I’ve seen much odder-looking people out and walking about. I can’t recall ever pointing at them and yelling “Look! An alien!” People don’t do that. They notice, think, “God, I hope I didn’t stare at that poor man,” and go on.

In the film, it wasn’t until the humans saw two Metalunans that they began to suspect something odd was going on.

Rock Baker

Jeff Morrow is also a good enough actor that you can believe people are listening to waht Exeter is saying rather than staring at his forehead. Charisma can often make us overlook (rather than flatly ignore, which is the natural response) deformity.

sandra

I thought THIS ISLAND EARTH was a poor choice for the MST3K movie because its really not tthat bad a film. As 50’s sci-fi goes, its not in the same class as THEM ! OR FORBIDDEN PLANET, but it’s a heck of a lot better than KILLERS FROM SPACE or THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS. They never showed that MST3K series on any of the local channels, so the movie was my first exposure to it, and frankly it was all too reminiscent of having three drunken louts in the row behind you when you are trying to watch a movie in peace. The rational response is “SHUT UP !” .

That was always the danger of MST3K, or bad movieism in general, and why people like Bill Warren are prejudiced against it. (Another is a chance to knock Michael Medved; I’ve seen a lot more of that since he primarily became a conservative commentator.) One reason my reviews are so long is that I really like to explain the meat of my problems with films, and also mention anything I think the film does right. In other words, Rule #1: BE FAIR. When MST3K was doing movies like Revenge of the Creature purely because they had the rights to them, it always made me cringe a bit.

John Nowak

I never thought of MST3K as “criticism,” per se. It’s a way to take a film and hopefully add some humor to it. I mean, really — there’s a lot to like in a number of the MST3K films. There’s a riveting subplot in Giant Leeches which had some of them defending it offline.

I love MST3K and FIlm Crew and Rifftrax, but unlike this place I don’t look at them for honest criticism.

Rock Baker

I’d be completely against MST3K’s using Revenge of the Creature (and severel others actually) were it not for the fact that their funniest episodes tend to feature either completely awful movies or movies that are actually pretty good. I still avoid watching these episodes often because I like the used film and don’t want the commentary playing in my head whenever I go back and watch the film itself. (The inner mocks from the bots help a flick like Giant Spider Invasion, but are a problem on Amazing Colossal Man, for example)
This Island Earth was chosen mostly because it was in Universal’s library and was a color science fiction film. I don’t watch the movie much anymore, but it was a funny, funny flick.

Rock Baker

And it was something like this that made me decide I’d never go to a B-fest or similar event. I read about one of your shows where you screened The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake. I’d seen the opening to Four Skulls one night way back on TNTs 100% Weird, but didn’t get to see much of the film because it was on so late. I’ve been wanting to see it ever since, and I could just imagine finding out that someone was going to be running it, showing up to see it, and then find out the room was full of mockers. I’d hate for that to be my first time for an old genre movie like that. What little I caught on TV looked like it would be a movie I’d really enjoy.

Four Skulls is great! I actually myself showed that at T-Fest (the first or second one), and I don’t think we really mocked it. I may be misremembering, but we do watch good movies there too.

Bruce Probst

This Island Earth consists of a fantastically interesting opening 30 minutes (or so), followed by another 60 minutes (or less) of nothing happening. The Metalunans kill everyone except Steve and Ruth, who they kidnap and take to Metaluna, where they are threatened (but nothing happens), they then watch as Metaluna gets trashed (they have absolutely no influence on what happens) and then they come home again, the end.

I love watching that first 30 minutes, then I get really angry at the last 60 for wasting all that potential.

Not to mention, as the MST3K crew pointed out, the hero of the film does nothing. For most of the film, he’s just standing around, being smart but not actually doing anything.

I’ll admit that he does shout “Run, Ruth, run!” very convincingly, however.

The Rev. D.D.

Last year’s T-Fest we had Island of Lost Souls, which is totally not a bad movie. We didn’t mock it, as I recall; just made jokes based on what was happening and such. We were pretty quiet for it, at least as far as these things go.

I’ve noticed that if we’re being pretty quiet, it’s either a good movie (above) or one that’s utterly sucking the life out of us (Funky Forest, Big Man Japan).

John Nowak

>I still avoid watching these episodes often because I like the used film and don’t want the commentary playing in my head whenever I go back and watch the film itself.

Well, that’s the danger, isn’t it? It’s hard to watch Lionell Atwell’s excellent role and performance in Son of Frankenstein after Young Frankenstein. And ditto for the hermit in Bride of Frankenstein.

And since I love all three of those movies, what’s a guy to do?

Rock Baker

The Frankenstein movies at least stand apart enough from each other that one can sort of push the spoofery to the side, I get the impression when watching Young Frankenstein that Brooks really did have an affection for the older films. It becomes harder when I watch Zero Hour! since I’d seen Airplane! first. This may be a minority opinion, but I thought Zero Hour! was a really good movie and I often wish I hadn’t seen Airplane! because I keep making connections when I watch the older film. Airplane! is a brilliant movie, don’t get me wrong, but I love Zero Hour! and its only after half the film is over that I’m able to shed the influence of Airplane! and fully plant myself into Zero Hour!

D

Give uncle Scrotor a hug!!!!

John Nowak

>Tne Major Matt Mason man from Uranus action figure was a total ripoff of this.

Trivial point: that toy line is, I think, the Colorforms Space Warriors, not Mattel’s Major Matt Mason.

The Space Warriors box art had a weirdly deranged style about them, as though they were written by someone with a fever. “He has two eyes on his belt: one sees the past, and the other the future!”

Recent Reviews

Call me a Homer, but Rich Koz's Son of Svengoolie (later, with Jerry G Bishop's permission, just Svengoolie) has consistently been the funniest horror host the nation has offered up. A (like so many of… Read more →

I saw three movies in weekends this (sorta) weekend, although two of them were old. Thursday night I saw the Bond film You Only Live Twice, Saturday early I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol… Read more →